Vehicle Longitudinal Control and Traffic Stream Modeling

A simple yet efficient traffic flow model, in particular one that describes vehicle longitudinal operational control and further characterizes traffic flow fundamental diagram, is always desirable. Though many models have been proposed in the past with each having its own merits, research in this area is far from conclusive. This paper contributes a new model, i.e., the longitudinal control model (LCM), to the arsenal with a unique set of properties. The model is suited for a variety of transportation applications, among which a concrete example is provided in this paper. ∗Corresponding Author. Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 130 Natural Resources Road, Amherst, MA 01003. E-mail: [email protected]. †Associate Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332. Email: [email protected] ‡Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 130 Natural Resources Road Amherst, MA 01003. E-mail: [email protected] §Associate Professor, Department of Automotive Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. E-mail: [email protected]